House passes a piece of health care

The House of Representatives today overwhelmingly approved a proposal that would subject insurance companies to the same antitrust regulations as other industries, splitting off one of the least controversial provisions included in the Democratic health care legislation.

The bill, which passed 406-19 (roll call here), would overturn provisions of a 1945 law that gave the insurance industry broad exemptions from federal regulation of monopolies. House Democrats included the proposal in their now-stalled $1 trillion health care bill. The Senate did not.

"I'm proud of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for standing up for a common sense bill," Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., said in a statement after the vote. "Long ago, the insurance industry got a special deal from Washington. Big health insurance companies could conspire with each other to fix prices, divide territories and never be punished for it. It's wrong, and this bill fixes it–once and for all."

But it's not clear that was happening in a widespread way. In a report last year, the non-partisan partisan Congressional Budget Office wrote that the provision "would apply to a small number of offenders." In another report, the CBO predicts that "implementing those provisions would have no significant effects on either the federal budget or the premiums that private insurers charged for health insurance."

In a statement, Karen Ignagni, president of the insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plans, said the bill attempts to "solve a problem that doesn't exist."

Still, the measure is the first policy approved that had been part of the broader health care legislation passed by the House last year. Some supporters have suggested the health care bill should be broken apart and dealt with incrementally. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.., left the door open to that approach.

"We may not be able to do it all," Hoyer said. "If we can't, then … doing part is also good. There are a number of things I think we can agree on."

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About Catalina Camia

Catalina Camia leads the OnPolitics online community and has been at USA TODAY since 2005. She has been a reporter or editor covering politics and Congress for two decades, including stints at The Dallas Morning News and Congressional Quarterly. Follow her at @USATOnPolitics.